I’ve been looking into feng shui lately, specifically the concepts about what makes a person feel more safe or at ease in a space, such as relaxing or sleeping facing the entrance / exit.
While reading, I came across the guidance that you should always shut your toilet seat to prevent your good fortune from being flushed. The real reason you should keep it shut is so it can’t mist shit-water all over your toothbrush every time you flush. Also so your pets don’t drink out of it.
What other things did humans throughout history accidentally get right?
That’s because it’s all placebo effect. That doesn’t make acupuncture effective. Anything you can make someone believe can be just as effective.
My physiotherapist stuck a needle in my muscles, instantly relaxing them. That was certainly not a placebo effect, as I didn’t really feel the needle, till the muscle suddenly spasmed into a relaxed state.
He only did it in two or three spots, so it’s not acupuncture in the sense that you become the pincushion for a quilting enthousiast. But it certainly is sticking needles into your skin for a medical reason. The proper medical term is dry needling.
You not only don’t need to hit the meridians, but you also don’t need to penetrate the skin.
What do you call alternative medicine that works? Medicine.
Nah, it’s effective for some things, they just didn’t clarify that it is NOT good for everything idiots claim, but a small subset of chronic pain issues where causing endorphins to release and some direct tissue stimulation are the mechanisms of action.
Sure, you might claim treating symptoms still isn’t “fixing” anything like with much of medicine, but pain relief and stimulation are both very much parts of actual medical recovery plans.
Actually, since the placebo effect is well documented to have an effect, anything that induces the placebo effect is effective.
I understand how that’s inconvenient, but that doesn’t make it untrue.